高中英语阅读(附答案).doc

高三英语阅读专练
A
New technology links the world as never before. Our planet has shrunk. It’s now a “global village” where countries are only seconds away by fax or phone or satellite link. And, of course, our ability to benefit from this high-tech communications equipment is greatly increased by foreign language skills.
Deeply involved with this new technology is a kind of modern businesspeople who have a growing respect for the economic value of doing business abroad. In modern markets, success overseas often helps support domestic business efforts.
Overseas assignments are becoming increasingly important to advancement within executive ranks. The executive stationed in another country no longer need fear being “out of sight and out of mind.” He or she can be sure that the overseas effort is central to the company’s plan for success, and that promotions often follow or accompany an assignment abroad. If an employee can succeed in a difficult assignment overseas, superiors will have greater confidence in his or her ability to manage back in the United States where cross-cultural considerations and foreign language issues are becoming more and more common.
Thanks to a variety of relatively inexpensive communications devices with business applications, even small businesses in the United States are able to get into international markets.
English is still the international language of business. But there is an ever-growing need for people who can speak another language. A second language isn’t generally required to get a job in business, but having language skills gives a candidate the edge when other qualifications appear to be equal.
The employee posted abroad who speaks the country’s language has an opportunity to fast-forward certain negotiations, and can have the cultural insight to know when it is better to move more slowly. The employee at the home office who can communicate well with foreign customers over the telephone or by fax machine is an obvious asset to the firm.
56. With the increased use of high-tech communications equipment, businesspeople ___
A. are eager to work overseas
B. have to get familiar with modern technology
C. are gaining more economic benefits from domestic operations
D. are attaching more importance to their overseas business
57. In this passage, “out of sight and out of mind” (Line 3, Para. 3) probably means ________.
A. leaving all care and worry behind
B. being unable to think properly for lack of insight
C. being totally out of touch with business at home
D. missing opportunities for promotion when abroad
58. According to the passage, what is an important consideration of international corporations in employing people today?
A. Ability to speak the customer’s language.
　　B. Connections with businesses overseas.
　　C. Technical know-how.
　　D. Business experience.
59. The advantage of employees having foreign language skills is that they can ________.
A. fast-forward their proposals to headquarters
　　B. better control the whole negotiation process
　　C. easily make friends with businesspeople abroad
　　D. easily find new approaches to meet market needs

B
When an ant dies, other ants take it out of the nest, often within an hour after its death. This behavior interests scientists and they wonder how ants know for sure—and so soon—that another ant is dead.
One scientist recently came up with a way to explain this ant behavior. Dong-Hwan Choe is a biologist, a scientist who studies animals and plants. He found that ants have a chemical on the outside of their bodies that signals to other ants, “I'm dead—take me away” when it is dead.
But there's a question to answer: As we know, if an ant is dead, it stops moving. But when an ant is sleeping or knocked unconscious, it is also not moving. However, other ants don't move the living ant out of the nest. How do they know this ant is not dead? Choe found that ants have another chemical on their bodies, which tells nearby ants something like, “Wait—I'm not dead yet” when it is not dead. Choe suspects that when an ant dies, the chemical that says, “Wait— I'm not dead yet” quickly goes away. When other ants detect the “dead” chemical without the “not dead yet” chemical, they move away the body.
To test his theory, Choe and his team put different chemicals on ants. When the scientists used the “I'm dead” chemical, other ants quickly moved the treated ant away. When the scientists used the “Wait—I'm not dead yet” chemical, other ants left the treated ant alone. Choe believes this behavior shows that the “not dead yet” chemical overrides the “dead” chemical when picked up by other ants. And that when an ant dies, the “not dead yet” chemical fades away. Other nearby ants then detect the remaining “dead” chemical and remove the body from the nest.
Understanding this behavior can help scientists figure out how to stop ants from invading new places and causing problems.
60. What is the function of the first paragraph?
A. Leading the following paragraphs. B. Showing the main idea of the passage.
C. Introducing the background of the passage.
D. Giving a summary of the passage.
61. Which of the following has the closest meaning to the underlined word “overrides” in the fourth paragraph?
A. is weaker than B. is stronger than C. is better than D. is worse than
62. What can we learn from the passage?
A. Living ants can also be taken away when they are not moving.
B. When an ant dies, it can tell others using a certain chemical.
C. A living ant can pretend to be dead using a special chemical.
D. Ants often use chemicals to communicate with each other.
63. Which of the following descriptions about Dong-Hwan Choe is right?
A. Choe did this study in order to stop ants from invading new places.
B. Choe is a biologist who is only interested in animals, especially in ants.
C. Choe first came up with an idea to explain this ant behavior，and then did some tests to prove his theory.
D. Choe did the research on this ant behavior on his own。
C
Each time I see a balloon, my mind flies back to a memory of when I was a six-year-old girl. It was a rainy Sunday and my father had recently died. I asked my mom if Dad had gone to heaven. "Yes, honey. Of course." she said.
"Can we write him a letter?"
She paused, the longest pause of my short life, and answered, "Yes."
My heart jumped. "How? Does the mailman go there?" I asked.
"No, but I have an idea." Mom drove to a party store and returned with a red balloon. I asked her what it was for.
"Just wait, honey. You'll see." Mom told me to write my letter. Eagerly, I got my favorite pen, and poured out my six-year-old heart in the form of blue ink. I wrote about my day, what I learned at school, how Mom was doing, and even about what happened in a story I had read. For a few minutes it was as if Dad were still alive. I gave the letter to Mom. She read it over, and a smile crossed her face.
She made a hole in the corner of the letter where she looped the balloon string. We went outside and she gave me the balloon. It was still raining.
"Okay, on the count of three, let go. One, two, three."
The balloon, carrying my letter, darted upward against the rain. We watched until it was swallowed by the mass of clouds.
Later I realized, like the balloon, that Dad had never let his sickness get him down. He was strong. No matter what he suffered, he'd persevere, dart up, and finally transcend this cold world and his sick body. He rose into sky and became something beautiful. I watched until the balloon disappeared into the gray and white and I prayed that his strength was hereditary. I prayed to be a balloon.
64．When the girl asked her mother if they could write to her father, her mother _________.
A．felt it hard to answer B．thought her a creative girl
C．believed it easy to do so D．found it easy to lie
65．When the girl was told that she could send a letter to her father, she _________.
A．jumped with joy B．became excited
C．started writing immediately D. was worried that it couldn't be delivered
66．In the eyes of the author, what was the rain like?
A．An incurable disease. B．An unforgettable memory.
C．The hard time her father had. D．The failures her father experienced.
67．What would be the best title for the passage?
A．An unforgettable experience B．The strong red balloon
C．Fly to paradise D．A great father

D
We all know how important human life is—it’s priceless. It doesn’t matter where you are from or what the color of your skins is—all people are human beings. Firstly, we can tell you that the lives of your relatives could depend on your ability to give first aid. If you think highly of human’s life, this website is for you! Here you can find information about first aid.
The very first thing that you should do when you see an accident is to evaluate the situation and prevent further dangerous incidents. First of all, you have to recognize what has happened and what the dangers to rescuers and victims are. Think about how to take care of the victims.
Helping usually takes place in very difficult conditions and injuries can be very bad. Therefore, you cannot be too afraid of making mistakes to help. Sometimes you have to face the fact that regardless of your actions and your efforts the victim’s condition might not improve—he or she could even die. In some cases even professional medical aid may not succeed. If you have done everything you think you should do, you shouldn’t feel guilty.
Do not expose yourself to danger. Giving first aid can be dangerous. While trying to help a victim, do not forget about your own safety. If something happens to you, you won’t be able to help anyone.
Call for help after you find out the condition of a victim. But remember if a victim faints due to breathing failure caused by drowning, choking or poisoning, you should first take actions that help to bring back the heart beat and breathing. While calling, talk shortly but clearly. Always provide the following information: the location of the accident, the kind of accident, the number of the injured and your full name and phone number and so on.
68. The underlined word “evaluate” in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to ________.
A. leave B. protect C. avoid D. judge
69. What’s the main idea of Paragraph 3
A. You should learn some professional knowledge about first aid.
B. You shouldn’t feel guilty if you don’t know about first aid.
C. Try your best to give first aid and don’t be afraid of making mistakes
D. Don’t make mistakes when you are giving first aid.
70. The author thinks that helping a victim can be ____________.
A. risky B. shocking C. exciting D. boring
71. It can be inferred from the passage that __________.
A. everyone must learn how to give first aid
B. you should forget about your own safety while giving first aid.
C. when you see an accident you should do nothing but call the police.
D. when calling for help you should give all relevant details.

E
Minimalism (简约主义) is a term that describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is reduced to its most basic features.
As for me, minimalism functions well not in art or design, but in my daily life.
When I was packing for university, I found it extremely difficult to let go of some of the things I owned. I knew I couldn’t take everything with me, but I kept asking myself “how could I possibly throw this away?”, “what if I need it one day?”, and “what about all of the memories?” Now that I’ve moved, and left that stuff behind, I don’t even miss it. Whether or not I got rid of it, it barely makes a bit of difference to me now.
I’ve learned that over time people forget, or their need for a particular object eventually disappears. Either they store it away or they get rid of it.
You might think nostalgically（怀旧的） about the toys you cared about when you were a child, but what is making you smile now is not the thing itself but the memory of it. I’ve heard it a hundred times, “you don’t need things to make you happy.” It takes something life-changing like moving across the country to realize how true this is.
Speaking of which, for a lot of people, minimalism is about able to move. It’s about being able to go almost anywhere at any time because you don’t have many possessions to carry. When you keep things you don’t need they become a burden that ties you to a place. Moving to university was a good time to let go of a lot of stuff. And when I visit for the holidays, I’ll probably get rid of even more, to lighten the burden.
Of course there are exceptions. There are some things that are irreplaceable, very rare or expensive or we simply love and cherish for some reason or another, since we are humans. But after we keep those, how much is left that we don’t really need?
Hence, minimalism. And why does minimalism bring happiness? That was a bit of a roundabout way of saying that, it’s because what really makes me happy is freedom. And the key to freedom is minimalism because minimalism reduces our attachment to things.
Attachment to too many objects creates a great mess and can severely hold back our freedom to do whatever we want, while minimalism helps us start new projects, move, travel, learn new things, work, expand, be debt-free, be healthy – really living life to our full potential.
I left the nest to fly onwards and upwards, I can’t do it with old things weighing me down. And that is why I have adopted minimalism with open arms.
72. In paragraph l, the writer gives the definition of minimalism to .
A. introduce a topic B. present his own background
C. describe a scene D. offer an argument
73. Many people don’t want to let go of some of their belongings because .
A. they haven’t had any life-changing experiences
B. they fear their memories will be gone with the thrown-away stuff
C. they hope to live life to their full potential by storing things away
D. they may have to change their lifestyle because of the loss of them
74. Which of the following is NOT the reason why the writer favors “minimalism” in life?
A. It takes the burden off her while she is moving.
B. It reduces her attachment to her personal things.
C. It enables her to gain the freedom that she desires.
D. It helps her to realize how true life is.
75. What’s the main idea of the passage?
A. Minimalism brings happiness.
B. Minimalism is applied in many fields.
C. Minimalism makes people think nostalgically.
D. Minimalism is about able to move.

答案：
56-59 DDAB
60-63 ABBC
64-67 ABCB
68-71 DCAD
72-75 ABDA